Monday, September 30, 2013

for some very perplexing reason blogger doesn't want me to upload my race photos - now it's been almost 24 hours since the bronx 10 miler and I still haven't been able to upload more than these two photos from my computer. i'll update this page w/more photos at some point - when blogger fixes whatever glitches are causing it to malfunction.

on to the good news - this race was my ninth nyrr race of 2013 and caps off my 9+1 requirement for the 2014 nyc marathon! on another nyrr related note, it was my 4th grand prix race of 2013 - and with any luck, i'll run the staten island half next month to cap off all 5 of the borough races this year. it'll be the first time i've managed to do that since 2006 (or was that 2005?)! for someone that typically only gets in the manhattan and brooklyn half marathons, that's a big deal :D

as for the race itself, i was very happy to run a 1:15:27, 7:33 pace! that was a solid 6+ minutes faster than last year's bronx 10 miler (albeit I wasn't in the best shape for that one). better still it was a solid 3 minutes faster than the westport 10 miler I ran last month. while I seriously doubt that i'll go under 1:10 this season, my speed is slowly coming back :D

Saturday, September 28, 2013

yesterday i went to the john densmore book signing for his new book, "the doors: unhinged" at j&r. i haven't been to an event at j&r in years - since 2008 when "asia" did an acoustic set there to promote their upcoming tour. that was back when it was j &r music, in it's separate store. today all the j & r departments have been consolidated in the one building on the corner.

getting back to densmore - he had a pretty good turnout for the book signing. the book wasn't so much about the doors as it was the multi-year legal battle against his two surviving band mates for illegally using the doors name to promote their touring. as a side note, almost 5 years ago to the date (September 25, 2008), i caught manzarek and krieger with "riders on the storm" at the fillmore (irving plaza). it was a great show - with the "renamed" band a direct result of densmore's lawsuit that enjoined them from touring as "the doors" - or variations thereof.

i'm really looking forward to the reading densmore's book. and not because of the doors aspect - his autobiography "riders on the storm" already covered those years. but, as a lawyer, i'm looking forward to the legal battle that he and morrison's estate fought to keep manzarek and krieger from using the "doors" name to promote their shows.

stay tuned. i'll post a review when I've read it (although it may be a while because there are a couple of book ahead of it) :D

Friday, September 27, 2013

hard to believe, but the bronx 10 miler this weekend will complete my nine + one requirement for the 2014 nyc marathon! i'm pretty psyched about that litte detail :D

the 10 miler will also be my 4th grand prix race of the year. and if i manage to get in the staten island half next month, i have done all 5 of the borough races this year. that's something i haven't done since way back in 2006 - when all 5 were half marathons :D

in addition to the tech shirt and bib, the a goodie bag - of sorts - was handed out. i don't know what to call it, other than to describe it as some kind of foldable lunch bag - that has a couple of sample toiletries in it. interesting - but, if it was up to me, i would have opted for some free power gels instead :O

Sunday, September 22, 2013

yesterday class concluded at noon and, after lunch, we took a sightseeing bus tour of kuala lumpur. the sites we visited were fantastic - but the travel congestion on the roads was another matter. it took so long to get from attraction to attraction that we ultimately had to cut out merdeka (independence) square! that was disappointing, but by the time we got back to the hotel I could easily have passed for the perak man on exhibit at the museum :O

Friday, September 20, 2013

frog, it's what's for dinner! last night the frog porridge stall was open for business - and I pounced (maybe... hopped) at the chance to try their signature dishes. for some reason the stall was closed on wednesday night when we made the trip down jalan alor in search of it.

in addition to the namesake frog porridge, i also ordered the spicy frog (with various chili's in a brown sauce). it took about 5-10 minutes for the dishes to be cooked. we sat at the table directly in front of the stall and took in the bustling jalan alor street scene as we waited - which primarily consisted of dozens of hungry people eying the different stalls in search of dinner ideas. apparently we - read i (since tom and salil weren't tempted to try the frog dishes) - were the only ones interested in frog!

the bowl of spicy frog arrived first - and it was spicy! but the frog pieces were tender and tasted great. i had thought of mixing the brown sauce into to porridge when it arrived, but the dish stood on its own merits. its principle flavoring was ginger, and its frog was also tender and tasty. i didn't need the brown sauce, or anything else for that matter. each dish was fantastic!

frog requires a certain leap of faith (couldn't resist the pun), but if you're game - this is the place to try it in kl :D

Thursday, September 19, 2013

last night salil, tom and i checked out the brussels beer café (hap seng location) - which was just a 5-10 walk from the taps beer bar we the night before. the selection was just as large as taps, with a decidedly belgian tilt in choices. not to harp, but the only american beer on the list was budweiser (which i'll point out was 1 more than taps)!

i had one of my favorites (albeit) german beers, an erdinger wiessbier dunkel. tom went the belgian route with a leffe brune on tap. salil opted for a virgin mojito. the wait staff was knowledgeable and the beer was served in the appropriate glassware. tom and i also split a franzikaner hefe-weissbier. the only negative was the shortage of some selections - a couple of our original choices were out of stock (grimbergen albree and pauwel kwak).

overall, a great place - and shouldn't be passed up if you're nearby. :D

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

last night i had a chance to try a couple of beers at the taps beer bar. tom and salil joined me after class and we walked over there together - with a side trip to the frog porridge stall (which, unfortunately, was closed). tom and i both started off with "indian saison" from nogne o, an austrialian brewery. salil opted for iced teas.

i followed up the saison with a "schiehallion" from harviestoun (scotland) and tom went with a "nipponia" from hitachino nest (japan). the bar was relatively empty given that it was an early wednesday night. taps had a large, if somewhat pricey, selection of world beer - including a dozen choices on tap. given the typical high cost of beer in kuala lumpur (a large bottle of tiger can easily fetch $16 rm!), the premium for craft beer wasn't bad.

it's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for craft beer in kl!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

i finally had a chance to get a little sightseeing tonight - a group walk to the PETRONAS twin towers. tom graciously volunteered to lead the group, which included salil, a number of our students, and me. we left the hotel just after 6, and the walk along the crowded streets took us approximately 30 minutes. hopefully, there'll be time to take in a few more sights this week :D

Sunday, September 15, 2013

greeting from kuala lumpur - once again! it's been almost 2 years to the day since i arrived for my first trip to kaula lumpur back in 2011 (18 sept). if i hadn't had to cancel the trip last year because of the lightning strike... this would my third time in kuala lumpur for the budget, finance & management course. be that as it may, the trip to southeast asia never gets old!

its a long haul - i logged 19 hours on the two flights to get here - but well worth it. i checked into my hotel earlier this afternoon and spent a few hours walking around the city to deal with of a couple of chores... primarily convert cash into local dollars and grab a few groceries (in context, a 1.5 liter bottle of evian and 660 ml bottle of tiger :D). walking through a warren o crowded streets reminded so much of neighboring bangkok!

last time here we took a group tour to the batu caves - but i never found the time to check out the view from the petronas twin towers - a view of which from my hotel window above. this time around i'd like to get in that bird's eye view of the city - or, in the alternative, the views from kl's space needle!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

i stopped by the pop international gallery in soho yesterday to check out the "one more saturday night" exhibit of grateful dead backstage passes artwork and photos. the backstage passes - and the artwork that sprung from them - were simply fantastic. even better, scott weiner took the time to explain the back story of how antonio reonegro went from the commission he was charged with to create backstage passes for the grateful dead tours (starting in the early 1980s) to the larger than life "look back" pieces of those very same passes on the gallery walls that he created years later.

if your in (or near) soho, don't pass up the opportunity to check out these incredible pieces!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

what a great day to run in central park - both the men and women's races saw course records fall at the nyrr autism speaks 4 miler this morning! after i finished my race, went back to the finish line to watch the women's race and saw the winner shave 4 seconds from the course record!

as for my own race, i missed a sub-28 finish by just 7 seconds (28:07, 7:02 pace). i didn't go in with a sub-28 as a realistic target - nor did my slow start (a 7:16 crowded first mile) hint at it. but i bounced back with a 6:36 second mile and suddenly there was a decent shot at it. but the west side hills almost put it out of reach when i ran a 7:14 for mile 3. i would needed a 6:55 to hit 28 minutes. unfortunately, with a 7:02, i didn't even break 7 minute for the last mile.

still, i was more than happy with the result (and it was good enough to score for the taconic 50+ team). i happier still to have race #8 in the books! one more and i'll complete my 9+1 for 2014 (that will probably happen at the bronx 10 miler later this month).

Friday, September 6, 2013

yesterday i picked up my bib and tee shirt for the autism speaks 4 miler at the nyrr club. the big surprise - in the confirmatory email - was the extra 15 minutes the men get on saturday morning! instead of the 8 am start, the nyrr pushed back the start to 8:15 to accommodate a bike race in the park that morning. the women's start is still 9 am.

the 4 miler will be my 8th nyrr race on the road to 9+1 for the 2014 nyc marathon. i registered for it earlier this week, together with the bronx 10 miler at the end of the month (which will complete my 9+1 for 2014!).

along with the tee shirts, clear plastic bags were handed out for baggage check. it seems that the days of bringing stuff in your own bag - any bag - have been replaced by this new baggage check system. given that, make sure to pack light!

Monday, September 2, 2013

the new haven 20k was my third race in as many days. it's been a while since I did three races back to back - and the weather conditions didn't make the trio any easier. there was a light drizzle for most of the 20k this morning. but the rain didn't do much to bring down the humidity - it still seemed like we were running underwater most of the time!

i didn't have any time goal in mind. my initial plan to run 8 minute miles and shoot for a 1:40 finish fell apart in the first mile. it was a struggle to run 8:30 miles - have to constantly spend time wiping my foggy, wet glasses (with a soaked singlet) didn't help matters! i finished in a disappointing 1:46:36, an 8:35 pace.

still, given the lousy weather - and the toll of the other two races - i was more than happy to cross the finish line and make a beeline for a cold glass of harpoon white to rehydrate with! remarkably, my time was good enough for third lawyer/judge - and i won a tech shirt! that was some kind of positive karma because they had run out of tech shirts when i picked up my bib at the start!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

the van cortlandt track club's bramble 10k started off in soupy, humid conditions. it was a double loop course, with the added twist that the second loop included cemetery hill (the 5k course was the first loop). about three quarters of the way through the first loop - i was less than a mile from the parade grounds - the rain arrived... and stuck around for the second loop!

it was wet! i didn't mind the rain at all - but when the thunder arrived mid-way through the second loop i suddenly got the urge to run faster. given that my eyeglasses had fogged up long before the booms of thunder, it wasn't likely that i could go any faster (even if my legs had it in them). i finished, soggy and gratefully intact, in just under 54 minutes (53:58 or so). the second loop was much slower than the first one (25:30).

even so, it was a fun time. running in the rain and mud was fantastic (albeit not something i need - or want to do on a regular basis) ;D